Microsoft pushed 'inaccurate' Windows 11 upgrade to unsupported devices Microsoft says it has dispatched a fix for a glitch that saw it offer an "inaccurate upgrade" to Windows 11 for some users running Windows 10 on computers that were ineligible to receive it. On February 23, upgrade promotion banners reached unsupported devices – those not meeting Microsoft's stringent minimum hardware …
"especially if their cunning plan involves charging a subscription to all W11 users ($9.99/month)"
Steve, you have parroted about the "imminent M$ Windows subscription model" for over a decade now.
That's the spirit. Do keep on - perhaps in another decade or two you will be proven right.
I remember the slogan in the title above, usual MS BS.
2025 EOL for Win10 is likely to be non viable as there will be an awful lot of consumers with old hardware that is not Win 11 compatible so some form of security patched version will be needed afterwards.
For plenty of consumers a PC is definitely not a cheap item to purchase and there is an expectation that it will be replaced when it breaks down, not just at the whim of the OS manufacturer deciding their working system is only fit for the scrap heap.
.. Yes. I'm fully aware that other OSes are available to replace EOL Win10, (I have Linux on some of my kit, back in the days of the "forced" W7 to W10 upgrade, my old & not particularly IT skilled father was one of those caught by the update happening even though X clicked) & ended up with a totally borked PC. So (with the bonus of saving me from huge amounts of Windows related free support hassle) I ended up putting user friendly Ubuntu on it as he mainly did email / web and a bit of word processing & had no need of any windows specific apps, & his Ubuntu system ticked away happily, auto applying updates as needed, (outlived him). However plenty of people do not have the knowledge themselves to switch OS (or relatives able to do it for free) and so end up suffering from enforced obsolescence )
I really don't understand* why various regulators let the tech companies get away with such pitiful support periods for software, especially with security patches, (& don't get me started on the fiasco of Android updates (or more precisely, the lack of them, for many phone models))
* Well I do, pressure / inducements for key decision makers works wonders,
I agree. In my case, Linux was already part of what I used, but I added a Macbook to it. It was only meant to be an experiment (because the last time I'd been near Apple gear was with OS9 and that just felt like a toy), and instead of reformatting the machine for Windows after the experiment as expected (which you could still do in those days) I realised I just had spent a month just getting things done in perfect harmony with the Linux box I had, with no interruptions.
That was effectively the last day I used Windows, with only a brief foray into Win 10 21H2 when a company asked me for help, and that made me even more happy we'd converted to Mac and Linux as a platform. Sure, it has its challenges too, but once solved they tend to stay solved..
"2025 EOL for Win10 is likely to be non viable as there will be an awful lot of consumers with old hardware that is not Win 11 compatible so some form of security patched version will be needed afterwards."
Agreed! I expect they'll back down at some point in 2024 or early 2025, when all their lovely telemetry shows them how many millions of computers are still running W10. It'll probably take the same form as updates for the one-off-payment versions of Office, i.e. security updates only and no new features (which is not necessarily a bad thing, of course, as most of the new features tend to be annoying crap which nobody asked for).
My PC was state of art when built and that was a while ago.
Only needs SSD and more RAM, but compatible RAM is NLA.
Not enough ram for newer OSes, so 10 would be a dog, 11 impossible according to MS, the ONLY software it strugges with is Teams, and some CAD work, both would be RAM fixable.
I hate having to replace working things simply due to someone elses whim. Had this with Freeview kit losing support.
The newer the wndows version the less it feels like my PC
Correction. Windows 7 was the last version I ever needed. (In my own opinion, it was also the last solid and reliable version they ever released.. and easily maintainable as well..) Like Tiggity, it was the release of Win 8 that forced me to move to Linux. MS dropped support for too many of my essential peripherals, but they were well supported by Ubuntu. I was in my 70s at the time, and had had no formal IT training of any description during my working career. I was still able to find, download and install Ubuntu as a dual boot Win/Linux setup. It really was NOT DIFFICULT. If I could do it then, pretty much anyone can. Our whole family- me, wife and children - now use Mint 20 / 21 on all our desktops and laptops. None of us have used anything made by MS for years, and have not missed it for a moment.
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They are raising them. The idea is to get you onto windows 11 by any means necessary so you will be forced to upgrade hardware. You will HAVE to upgrade your hardware at that point. The poor fools who upgraded are trapped in an endless loop now.
There is an out here. Some version of Linux (free), or even Apple (kinda expensive up front).
Most people only do the basics, web, e-mail and maybe some word processing anyway.
The major problem is people only know Microsoft and think anything else would be too hard to learn, or having to learn a different/better way to do things on another operating system. Never mind the constant reshuffling in Windows.
Really? I know plenty of people who are shall we say, a bit long in the tooth who finally gave MS the big middle finger and moved to a Mac. An hour or so training and none of them have looked back. To them, as long as Lightroom and Photoshop work they don't care. Yes, Apple is expensive up front but there are some good deals to be had if you look for them (Pawn Shops). 1-2 year old Macbooks as long as they have a decent wedge of RAM they will be fine. These users already have a decent 24in+ monitor so even a 13in device would do fine.
Linux user here (for over 10 years). I use Win10 on a work laptop, exclusively Linux on my personal gear. I have no trouble switching back and forth.
I have noticed that Windows has not really been improving from Win7 to Win10...it just seems to be moving the UI around as if the goal is to keep you from being able to effficiently work. Not my idea of progress. Sure, Linux is not perfect, but IMHO it doesn't suck any worse than Windows, and there's no malicious actor pulling the strings behind the scenes (I don't think so, at least)
I'll use Windows when necessary, but I prefer Linux.
The majority of people are becoming more tech savvy than you think. They HAVE to in order to avoid the pit falls of tech. It's not like we actually WANT to be on these devices. We don't have much choice. Windows is going into very heavy, intensive territory with telemetry and AI, and all the databasing. They are not the only ones by any means, but have traditionally been bad at these types of processes. They need you on bigger, more capable hardware. They have agreements with hardware makers as well. Apple is no saint. They are equally bad at some of this stuff. The i devices in particular are very good at spying and stealing data.
I know little about the UNIX/linux sphere due to so many versions, and so many choices to make. So, I'll leave that to people better knowledgeable than I. I like the sounds of mint, I'm not sure it would run my software tho.
All you have to do is look at social to see the tech education of the average user. It's about avoiding tech at this point.
However, MS are clearly undecided about W11 platform requirements, as they acknowledge it can be installed and run without problems on W10 Plato’s.
The latest update to W11 installs and only flags the hardware isn’t fully up to spec. :
https://www.theverge.com/22988775/microsoft-windows-11-desktop-watermark-unsupported-hardware
So I suspect MS are still on the fence as to whether to release a “W10 hardware” compatible version of W11…
However the existence of this new feature, says that even MS know their W11 platform requirements are excessive.
I think if I were desperate for some overpriced, over spec hardware to run applications on I'd just get an iMac. But since the iMac is not that different from a Linux system -- its just in a snazzier case with everything tarted up a bit -- then I might as well stick with Linux.
Up to now the only thing holding Linux back has been its inability to manage software licensing -- Linux was always against it so it this doctrinaire stance gave MSFT the edge. Now apart from Office there's no real need to use Microsoft for anything except developing for a Microsoft specific platform. If we desperately need to run Windows because the boss demands Office then we can just use a dedicated system or VM or something. (No, I don't regard MSFT's Linux support as viable -- its got that 'Embrace, Extend. Extinguish' feel to it. Windows also doesn't know how to work with filesystems and USB ports, its still stuck doing everything its own, peculiar way.)
"I think if I were desperate for some overpriced, over spec hardware to run applications on I'd just get an iMac."
Actually, iMac pricing is quite reasonable compared to the prices of other business class AIO computers - especially those that don't come with a low end processor which is several generations old.
"But since the iMac is not that different from a Linux system -- its just in a snazzier case with everything tarted up a bit -- then I might as well stick with Linux."
You could essentially say the same about a sports car and a pickup truck, and it would have a similar level of accuracy.
First of all, mac OS isn't Linux, it's a based on BSD and Apple's own microkernel. Being a UNIX, there certainly are many similarities with Linux but there also are almost as many differences.
The statement also ignores that with current gen Macs (aside from the Mac Pro), you also get the by far most advanced ARM platform on the market, and while there is work going on to port Linux to Apple Silicon, right now any usable ARM platform running Linux is limited hardware that is a lot slower.
"Up to now the only thing holding Linux back has been its inability to manage software licensing -- Linux was always against it so it this doctrinaire stance gave MSFT the edge."
This sentence is complete nonsense. First of all, "Linux" (or more precisely, its developers) are not "against" licensing - Linux is licensed under the GPL, after all. Also, license management under Linux is not much different than under Windows (or any other OS), which is that the OS doesn't care about software licenses for applications and leaves this to the ISV's implementation of license management.
What's holding Linux back is the chaos that come from having dozens of different distros, all doing things slightly differently, and the dire situation regarding desktops, of which there are many but none of them great. Graphics has been a mess, too (only got better more recently with Wayland and Vulkan), and we're again replacing the default Linux audio system for the umpteenth time.
It's really no surprise that ISVs avoid Linux for most part when it comes to desktop software.
"Now apart from Office there's no real need to use Microsoft for anything except developing for a Microsoft specific platform. "
Wrong, unfortunately. There are a number of MS applications which are really useful, even though the software is MS-typical shoddy. And often, there aren't really any drop-in alternatives that can do the job and work on Linux (I wish there was, as that would mean businesses wouldn't have to enslave themselves to MS).
"If we desperately need to run Windows because the boss demands Office then we can just use a dedicated system or VM or something. "
Or just buy a Mac and install MS Office for Mac, which if you need MS Office is a much more user-friendly option, and better than paying for a Windows license to run Office in a VM under Linux (because Office doesn't work in Wine).
"Windows also doesn't know how to work with filesystems and USB ports, its still stuck doing everything its own, peculiar way.)"
That, too, is nonsense. Windows certainly does "know" how to "work with" filesystems (it does so for several out of the box, and there are options for others that aren't included). And USB ports have been working with Windows since Windows 95B.
And doing things in its own way isn't necessarily a bad thing. For example, Windows has had fine grained user privileges controls long before Linux even got ACLs, and even today Linux lacks the granularity for user access control that exists under Windows.
There are some really good bits in the WIndows architecture (also, the various concepts in UNIX aren't exactly all great, either). The real problem with Windows lies in its licensing, lack of quality control, and general untrustworthiness of its manufacturer (Microsoft).
WTF is an 'inaccurate' update? What a load of BS.
It's either good or (more true to form) rubbish - even when that is partial, that's still simply rubbish. Not 'inaccurate' - not checking conditions before you update is bad as the end result is that you as sole and single proprietary code provider who should have all the details to do it right did not and caused problems.
It's pretty much a binary issue which leaves little room for 'inaccuracy'.
W*nkers.
Lets correct the article, Microsoft engineers realised that a newly released update that they said was not compatible with old computers worked perfectly fine once you removed the artificial incompatibilities imposed by Microsoft and you don't need to spend upwards for £1000 on new computer, to keep Microsoft and PC manufacturers accountants and shareholders happy. Microsoft, Windows 11 and the manufacturers should be investigated for being anti-consumer and profiteering !
According to Stat Counter, Windows 10 was running on 68.75 percent of PCs worldwide in January, versus 18.13 percent for Windows 11. Windows 7 took a 9.62 percent share of desktop Windows versions, with Win 8.1 clinging onto 2.31 percent and Win 8 and XP the remainder.
So various Windows versions add up to 100%
I beg to differ as there are number of desktops running MacOS, Linux and *BSD.,
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